Okay! You probably remember last week’s post about the wedding shower we threw for our San Francisco besties. Well, here’s part 2! It’s all about the decorations and the set-up on the day of the party.

The Wedding Shower Decorations: Lots of DIY!

Everything was a DIY effort and I was pleased with how it all turned out. For decorations I wanted something that would make the place feel super special, but wouldn’t cost a fortune because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to use them again. So I decided on these paper garlands that we made in the weeks leading up to the event. All you need is some card stock, thread, and a sewing machine. You just cut the paper into strips (ours were even, but I think it would also look cool if they were uneven) and then sew them together with the sewing machine. It takes a little time, but is SUPER simple. They made a big statement and really transformed the space. You can’t quite tell from the photos, but once they’re hung they become really three-dimensional and twirl all around. We also made that really awesome cut out of their names with a laser cutter that Xan had access to. The only other thing I added was fresh flowers. We actually just went to the flower market early that morning, picked up a bunch of wholesale stuff, put everything in different sized vases when we got home and placed them around the house. Fresh flowers are one of those tricks that instantly make a space feel more special. And you don’t have to go crazy with it. Even supermarket flowers or some from your backyard will work.

Party Prepartions: The Day of the Wedding Shower

On the day of the wedding shower I made sure to set-up a couple stations as a way to organically spread people out. The food was on the table in the kitchen, water was on the bar, and drinks were on the desk in the living room. We ended up rearranging our furniture for the day, which helped a lot with fitting everyone in. You can see in this post how our space was usually set-up. But, for that day we moved the bed all the way to the side of the room and out of the way. Initially we thought about leaving it where it was and just using it as a bench where people could sit at the foot. But, ultimately I thought people wouldn’t feel comfortable with that and we’d end up with several people standing because they wouldn’t feel like it was okay to sit on our bed. So we moved it and put pretty much all of our chairs in the living room ahead of time so it was obvious to people where to sit.

Overall, we made sure to make everything totally obvious so people would be comfortable and not feel like they were intruding in what are usually private spaces at a house